Share this:

Like this:

48 responses

Hi Maria
thanks for visiting and leaving me encouragement – I visited your website which is very classy – I just love your paintings – especially the child in the lily pond – I see you have been working today as well – all the best.

Hi Maria,
Just wondering if you’re aware of the One World One Heart blogging event. I thought you may be interested in doing this. Here’s the link:http://oneworldoneheart.typepad.com/
This is the 2nd year I’ve participated. It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve met some very cool artists through it. It’s just a fun “networking” thing and it doesn’t cost anything but a little time 🙂

We are members together on DP.com. I have always admired your paintings and your talent.
I would love to have you as a member of my International Blog. I have invited 100 International artists to market and sell their work.
Please check it out and if you are interested email me for your invitation.

Hi Maria, thanks so much for commenting on my blog yesterday — what a thrill! I am in love with your artwork and spent much time since discovering you looking at your work. I’m awed and fulfilled by the colors especially. Thanks for brightening my day! Nancy

Hi Jasmine,
Here is a bio that I currently use:
Maria Pace-Wynters was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia. She attended Victoria College of Art, Camosun College (Associate of Arts degree) , the University of Victoria (BFA honor program) and Victoria Film School before settling down in Edmonton, Alberta with her singer/songwriter/soulmate husband, Chris Wynters, their two young, but growing quickly, daughters, Imogen and Scarlett. Currently Maria is a stay at home mum that tries to find any moment that she can to create her unique and colourful mixed media paintings. Her paintings and reproductions are collected by loyal fans worldwide. Maria is an avid blogger and her blog, mariapacewynters.wordpress.com, has been viewed by over 2000 thousand visitors in the four last year. She sells her work online through Etsy, Red Bubble and The Daily Painters.

As a child I was encouraged to draw. By three my parents saw that I had an ability to draw and a passion to want to. They had a sick child and needed time. These things shaped why I started to create and why I am truly not happy unless I am doing it.

Drawing is definitely my passion. Over the years, I have learned to paint but drawing still plays a huge part in my art. I like to refer to myself as a ‘drainter’ as what I do is a little of both.

They say write what you know, and I guess that goes for painting as well. I am a stay at home mother of two little girls and am constantly inspired by their beauty. We often have dress up photo shoots. It is wonderful. I want to capture their innocence, their joy, their fears and even their sadness. They remind me of being a child. I constantly walk the line of being joyful and being melancholy because that it is what having children is like to me. The evoke so may memories of being a child and the loss of that time, they also are a constant reminder of how precious life is and just how fleeting it is.

I am definitely have a morbidly dark side. I think it is funny that I am finally painting with a bright colourful palette and yet my subject matter are mainly children and viewers still see that melancholy darkness in my work. I just can’t get away from it. It is who I am and my paintings just reflect that.

First, I want to draw the viewer into the work with its beauty. I really do. It sounds so boring but first and foremost, I want my paintings to be aesthetically pleasing. I want you to fall in love, then to stay for the long haul. I want the story to emerge slowly.

I like to think of my paintings not unlike a book cover. I want them to make you stop and wonder what is on the inside. I want to intrigue the viewer so that they feel compelled to enter the subjects world.

Life is so bittersweet, I can’t help but portray that in my work. My subjects are often stoic and deep in thought. I want my viewer to question what they are thinking about. Often people fill in the blank with there own history. I love that . It really is more about the feelings and memories I can evoke rather than a specific message.

2. When you are working as an artist, do you have a specific approach or structure to your day to make it more effective, focussed or inspired?

I just try to do something everyday. The longer I stay away, the harder it is to get back into it. Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way really taught me that. I no longer journal everyday but I do try to paint every day. Even if it is just for fifteen minutes. It is amazing if you take that time, you are inspired to come back. It keeps the wheels turning.

3. Which other artists are your most inspiring influences? (ignore if you’ve already covered this in question #1)

I have always love certain artist work but over the last couple of years I have fallen in love all over again with Degas’ colour pallette, toulouse lautrec’ black line and Mary Cassat’s block prints. I love the Japanese influence on the impressionist work. The pallette of the Favists. I love paintings with patterns,fabric and texture. I love figurative painting. I love de Kooning’s choatic brush strokes and Picasso ‘s angular figures during his blue and rose period. Matisse’s ” Green Line’ painting. Emily Carr’s Totem pole” paintings. Guagan’s “The Yellow Christ” painting. Egon Scheile’s draftmanship. Klimt’s sense of design. Just writing this list takes my breath away. I am so in awe of the beauty that these artists have created.

Writers that have inspired me:

Julia Cameron, for inspiring me to come to the page even when I didn’t want to and reminding me to always remember to fill the well.
Elizabeth Gilbert, for inspiring me to start really living my life by sharing her adventure and making me laugh along the way.
Eckhart Tolle, for helping me quiet the ‘thoughts’ and for keeping me in the moment.

4. Has your childhood and life experiences so far shaped your art? If yes, how?

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

When I was a little girl I would do art any chance I could get. I loved to be creative and was always encouraged by my Mum. It was fun. I enjoyed doing it. In fact, there was nothing I liked better. It was never a chore! It was never dull.

So, what happened? When I was a teenager I romanticised about a lot of things: Marriage, children, getting older.Visions of Picasso danced in my head. Like Picasso before me, I saw my future self eating dinner and then taking my fish bones and making a clay relief. I would have a bohemian house with piles of art and reference books on the dining room table. I would paint along side of my toddler. Look at us painting together for hours at a time. I won’t go as far as to say I imagined myself wearing a striped black and white t- shirt and shorts but I will say that I was totally out of touch with reality. First of all, toddlers require constant help when they do art, and their attention span is all of oh, lets say, 15 minutes. If you are lucky. Also, I can’t stand stuff all over the place, let alone my dining room table. I need that table to feed my kids and I don’t want their grubby little fingers all over my good books! Not to mention that I don’t even like fish very much, let alone a whole fish with bones.

I guess as I got older so much stuff got in the way of the pure process of creation. I had a constant dialogue going through my brain. Is it good enough? Who will like this? Is it too commercial or illustrative? or not enough? Is the palette to cold? Too dark? Too muddy? How could I tap into the pureness of what I was doing if the whole time I was doing it my head was questioning whether I should be doing it all. I don’t know who initially put these questions in my head. College, University, people of influence all played a part. Life isn’t the way I imagined it. The fun in art definitely was no longer part of my process. I no longer felt excited to create. It was just so much pressure: to create art that everybody likes is really hard.

Now, it has come full circle and as a Mother I watch my girls create and I am inspired by them. They don’t worry about the outcome. They just enjoy the act of making something. Anything. When it is done, it is done, and they move on to the next thing. They don’t dwell on it. It is about the process not the product. Sure we all want to create art that we like, and that other people like too, but if that is all we focus on it becomes a chore and where is the fun in that? It is so nice not to be in that angst ridden part of my life. At forty, it is so great to be able to reassociate art with fun, and know I can still learn new stuff even if it is stuff I knew at the age of three.

5. What is the most important piece of advice you could give to a young art student or aspiring artist?

When I was in University one of my professor was a firm believer in research propelling the artist into something that they could be inspired by. That always stayed with me. I will go one step further and say that if you are working consistently, as often as possible, even if that is for 15 minutes a day, you will start to see something happen. Picasso said it best when he said “Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” I have to say that these are words I live by.

6. Can you recommend any inspiring/useful resources online? (e.g. websites that you find particularly useful/inspiring as an artist)

When I started painting again a year and a half ago, I was pretty insecure about putting myself out there. I had paintings but unless you came to my house, they were pretty much unseen. It is hard to create knowing that your audience was limited to your house. By using online resources, not only did I get my art seen, I was able to build my confindence slowly. At first, I was able to hide and be more anonymous. Like sticking my big toe in the water first, I could tentatively see how people would react to what I was doing. It really was the best of both worlds. The two best things that I did online was 1. get a shop on Etsy and 2. start blogging about what I was doing. It took a few months but since May of 2008 I have had over 40, 000 visitors. I realize now that I am building a brand and creating a following of people who are interested in not only my art but my creative process as well. It is truly cyclical, the more I put out online, the more inspiration I get back. Magic.
Here are some links of on line interviews:

Maria, I don’t know how you feel about blogging awards, but you deserve millions of them. I nominated you for a “One Lovely Bog Award.” I’m glad you post your paintings, I would be missing out on so much if you didn’t. To read the nomination post, follow this rabbit hole: http://ourprocess.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/one-lovely-blog-award/

Hey,
I am a A- level art student who is doing the circus as my main topic and i am sooooo inspired by your work. Love it 🙂 I have done my own photo shoot inspired by your work. I have also bought your post card and was so happy to find out that you wrote on it and i have even kept the envelope they came in!!!
I am planning to do my final piece for my exam in the same style as you.
Thank you for inspiring me and being an amazing artist.
All the best
Bethany
(age 17)

Your paintings are like dreaming in colour! They are so beautiful and evocative-they filled me with a sense of nostalgia, longing and joy-they made me cry!
I would love to have a print of the paintings in the stars series but I don’t see them on Etsy. If you can offer this please could you list it? Love the Picasso quote and the inspiration and story behind each of your works-truly wonderful!

Hi Maria,
I am writing to join your legions of fans…. your art is beautiful and evokative and mysterious and lovely. Inspiring in many ways….. my nearly 18 year old daughter Julia is an aspiring artist who also works in multi-media… I have forwarded your blog link to her for some inspiration with her own amazing and beautifully evocative art. Blessings of peace and grace for you and your lovely family during this holy season of light and love, SingingBones (clearskiesbluewater.wordpress.com)

There was a famous illustrations for ladies or girls “CIRCUS”…like the one you draw.
the most famous one is displys two girls opposite each other and make a big gum ballon “it becomes an icon” we see it on the T-shirts,wall pictures……..
Cn you help me to know the name of it or the name of illustrater ?

Your work is awesome just discovered you and so excited to see your beautiful work. Do you teach online classes or anything like that now? I know it would be hard with children and family, just wondering. I will be keeping up with you now. Hugs and thanks for sharing your talent. xo

Hi Maria, I found your site through jennifermdarling’s site where you were exclaiming your love of paper made from stone. That caught my eye so I dropped by for a visit. You are mighty talented. Absolutely love your images and vivid colors. I will explore more because I’m now a fan!

Hi Maria,
I have always been a mixed-media-fan. Recently, I have been experimenting with white gesso, white interior wall paint, white gouache and watercolor and various extender mediums…as I’ve been playing with that wonderful semi-transparent , soft chalky haze effect. Do you have a favorite “white” approach/or medium-combo ?? And…PS…your compositions and figure placements on the page..really keep my attention. Thanks for sharing your great tidbits with writers.

Someone pinned off of my Pinterest a portrait that I pinned by you. They are claiming that it is a Charles Dwyer. I love the beautiful girls you paint. This Charles Dwyer is similar but NOT you. I thought you’d like to know about this.

Hi Maria, Your artwork continues to be amazing! My partner Danny and I are on our way up to Victoria as we speak. We used to visit the old Craigmyle. It appears that your folks have sold it finally, by the looks of its website. How are they doing? Have they moved? Forgive the intrusion, but were just thinking about them. Take care and good luck with your business!

Do you teach any online workshops? I would love to take lessons by you, you are my absolute favorite artist! I don’t live in Canada 😦 I have met several people online who have said I wish she taught online. I haven’t been able to find anything. Thank you so much for your time, I hope to hear from you. Sandi